Eating too much fat may be bad for your gut bacteria, a new study from China suggests.

The study involved more than 200 young, healthy adults who were assigned to eat either a low, moderate or high-fat diet for six months. Those in the high-fat diet group saw "unfavorable changes" in their levels of certain gut bacteria and the compounds these bacteria produce, the researchers said.

Changes - Consequences - Term - Risk - Diseases

Such changes might have negative consequences" over the long term, such as an increased risk of metabolic diseases like Type 2 diabetes, the authors wrote in the study, published Feb. 19 in the journal Gut.

In addition, the study was conducted in young and healthy adults (ages 18 to 35 years old), so it's unclear if the findings apply to other groups of people.

Studies - People - Diets - Gut - Bacteria

Previous studies have shown that people's diets can affect their gut bacteria, and that obesity has been linked to reductions in certain types of such bacteria. But relatively few studies have examined changes in gut bacteria after assigning people to a specific diet.

In the new study, participants were randomly assigned to one of three diet groups: The low-fat group, which got 20 percent of their daily calories from fat and 66 percent from carbohydrates; the moderate-fat group, which got 30 percent of daily calories from fat and 56 percent from carbs; and the high-fat group, which got 40 percent of daily calories from fat and 46 percent from carbs.

Number - Calories - Amount - Protein - Fiber

The total number of calories and amount of protein and fiber in participants' diet was the same for all groups. The participants also gave blood and stool samples at the start and end of the study.

At the end of the six-month study, participants in the low-fat diet group saw increases in levels...